Opthalmic impairment at 7 years of age in children born very preterm

Aims: To determine the prevalence of ophthalmic impairments in very preterm compared with term infants, the relation between impairments and cerebral ultrasound appearances and retinopathy, and the correlation with visual perception and motor and cognitive measures. Subjects: 279 children at 7 years of age born before 32 weeks gestation within Liverpool during 1991–92 and attending mainstream schools, and 210 term controls. Methods: Visual acuity was assessed by Snellen chart, and strabismus by the cover test. Stereopsis was determined using the TNO random dot test, and contrast sensitivity using the Cambridge low contrast gratings. Visual and motor abilities were assessed using the Developmental test of motor integration (VMI) and the Movement ABC. Intelligence was measured with the Wechsler intelligence scale for children UK. Perinatal cranial ultrasound and retinopathy data were extracted from clinical records. Results: Children born preterm were significantly more likely to wear glasses, to have poor visual acuity, reduced stereopsis, and strabismus than term controls, but they showed no significant decrease in contrast sensitivity. Ophthalmic impairments were significantly related to poorer scores on the VMI, Movement ABC, and Wechsler IQ tests, but were not significantly related to neonatal cranial ultrasound appearances. Stage 3 retinopathy was related to poorer subsequent acuity. Conclusions: Children born very preterm and without major neurodevelopmental sequelae have an increased prevalence of ophthalmic impairments at primary school age which are associated with visual perceptional, motor, and cognitive defects. The cause may be a generalised abnormality of cortical development rather than perinatally acquired focal lesions of the brain

Differing preferences of Antarctic soil nematodes for microbial prey

We tested the preferences of three nematode taxa, Geomonhystera villosa, Plectus spp. and Teratocephalus spp., extracted from moss at Signy Island in the Maritime Antarctic, for two microalgae, three microfungi and six heterotrophic bacteria, each also from soils at Signy Island. Choice test experiments on water agar medium, in which nematodes were enumerated in wells containing microbes at 24 and 48 h, indicated that there were differing preferences between nematodes for distinct prey. G. villosa was significantly attracted to the alga Chlorella cf. minutissima and the fungus Mortierella hyalina, and was more attracted to all algae and fungi than either of the other two nematodes. Both G. villosa and Teratocephalus spp. were attracted to an actinobacterium. Plectus spp. were significantly attracted to the alga Stichococcus bacillaris and bacteria with close taxonomic affinities to Arthrobacter, Pseudomonas and Polaromonas. Experiments using 0.5 μm diameter fluorescent beads indicated significantly increased ingestion by nematodes in the presence of each of these microbes compared with controls, except by Plectus spp. in the presence of S. bacillaris. We conclude that complex trophic interactions may occur in apparently simple Antarctic soil food webs

Evaluating the in-situ effectiveness of indoor environment guidelines on occupant satisfaction

Post occupancy evaluation (POE) studies typically use a combination of occupant questionnaires and physical measurements of various aspects of the indoor environment to assess building performance. These physical measurements are often compared against published reference limits to evaluate compliance and satisfactory performance. This study investigates whether indoor environment conditions compatible with published indoor environment quality (IEQ) standards and guidelines are predictive of occupant satisfaction. Data used in this study were collected as part of two large building evaluation field studies conducted in the past eight years. Occupant questionnaire and physical measurement data from 11 office buildings across North America were used (N=194). Inputs for the analyses were demographic factors and workstation characteristics, as well as aspects of the measured physical indoor environment. Outcome variables were various measures of environmental satisfaction (i.e. lighting, acoustics/privacy, and ventilation/temperature). The results of this study suggest that occupants had higher satisfaction with lighting when measured desktop illuminance levels were within IESNA RP-1-12 (2012) recommendations. Measured sound levels and thermal conditions within reference limits did not correlate to higher occupant satisfaction in their respective categories

Differential acquisition of amino acid and peptide enantiomers within the soil microbial community and its implications for carbon and nitrogen cycling in soil

l-isomeric amino acids and oligopeptides are thought to represent a key nitrogen (N) source for plants and soil microorganisms, bypassing the need to take up inorganic N, whilst self-cycling of d-enantiomers within peptidoglycan-containing bacteria may provide a further short circuit within the N cycle. Here we use stable isotope profiling (SIP) to identify the fate of organic N within soil microbial communities. We followed the incorporation of 13C-labelled d- or l-labelled amino acids/peptides into phospholipid fatty acids (PLFAs). l-alanine and its peptides were taken up more rapidly than d-enantiomers by Gram-positive bacteria with 13C incorporation being predominantly into anteiso- and iso-fatty acids typically associated with Gram-positive bacteria. d-enantiomer uptake was found not to differ significantly between the microbial groups, providing little support for the view that soil bacteria may self-cycle d-forms of amino acids and peptides. There was no consistent association between peptide chain length and incorporation. The concentrations of l- and d-isomeric amino acids in soil solution were 866 nM and 72 nM, respectively. We conclude that Gram-positive bacteria appear to be the primary competitors for l-enantiomeric forms of amino acids and their peptides, but that both d- and l-enantiomers are available N and C sources for bacteria and fungi

Lighting Quality Evaluations using Images on a High Dynamic Range Display

Limited research comparing participant ratings of luminous environments to ratings of images of those environments indicates that images can be a reasonable surrogate for the real space, particularly on ratings related to aesthetics. However, the realism of such images when presented on computer screens is potentially limited by conventional display technologies that cannot reproduce the full range of luminances in real spaces. In this pilot experiment we used a new, high dynamic range (HDR) computer monitor capable of producing screen luminances and contrasts comparable to those in a real space. Fifty-four participants viewed three images of a conventional office in two display modes: HDR monitor and conventional monitor. Participants rated each image for room appearance, environmental satisfaction and realism. These ratings were also compared to similar ratings made by participants in an earlier experiment (reported in 1998) who occupied the real spaces depicted in the images. Results indicate that computer screen images are perceived in a similar way as real luminous environments. HDR images are perceived differently than images on a conventional monitor: they are rated as brighter and less attractive, as expected. Given their more authentic luminances, HDR images should be perceived as more similar to the real space, but our results neither support nor refute this

Fluidic Control with Wax Valves for Paper-based Diagnostics

Paper-fluidic devices are a common platform for point-of-care disease detection in under-resourced areas because of their low cost and minimal instrumentation requirements. Limited fluidic control in paper-fluidic devices has hindered the incorporation of multistep reactions that are necessary for more sensitive disease detection. One potential fluidic control mechanism is the incorporation of thermally actuated wax valves to separate assay stages. Such valving would expand the detection capabilities of these devices by permitting fluid obstruction for sustained reactions and facilitating controlled volume release within a fully-automated, self-contained device. Despite the potential to exploit wax valves for innovative paper-fluidic diagnostics, a thorough, quantitative analysis of how they can best be used has not been performed. Here, in parallel macroscopic and microscopic analyses, we show that wax valves’ geometry and surface area in paper test strips influence flow behavior when thermally actuated. Macroscopic analysis evaluated the flow rate past the valves of the visible fluid front across the width of the membrane; microscopic analysis used particle image velocimetry to evaluate trends in particle flow before and after valve actuation. Preliminary results indicate that geometry and size influence valve opening times and the rate of fluid flow past the valves. Future analyses will compare the macroscopic and microscopic velocity profiles in various assay spaces and times to provide quantitative insight to the inner workings of paper-fluidic devices. This information will facilitate intelligent and efficient design of multistep paper-fluidic detection technologies with potential applications in lateral flow immunoassays, two-dimensional paper networks, and other point-of-care diagnostics

A Multi-level Approach for Identifying Process Change in Cancer Pathways

An understudied challenge within process mining is the area of process change over time. This is a particular concern in healthcare, where patterns of care emerge and evolve in response to individual patient needs and through complex interactions between people, process, technology and changing organisational structure. We propose a structured approach to analyse process change over time suitable for the complex domain of healthcare. Our approach applies a qualitative process comparison at three levels of abstraction: a holistic perspective summariz-ing patient pathways (process model level), a middle level perspective based on activity sequences for individuals (trace level), and a fine-grained detail focus on activities (activity level). Our aim is to identify points in time where a process changed (detection), to localise and characterise the change (localisation and characterisation), and to understand process evolution (unravelling). We illus-trate the approach using a case study of cancer pathways in Leeds Cancer Centre where we found evidence of agreement in process change identified at the pro-cess model and activity levels, but not at the trace level. In the experiment we show that this qualitative approach provides a useful understanding of process change over time. Examining change at the three levels provides confirmatory ev-idence of process change where perspectives agree, while contradictory evidence can lead to focused discussions with domain experts. The approach should be of interest to others dealing with processes that undergo complex change over time

Angular Momentum Transport In Solar-Type Stars: Testing the Timescale For Core-Envelope Coupling

We critically examine the constraints on internal angular momentum transport which can be inferred from the spin down of open cluster stars. The rotation distribution inferred from rotation velocities and periods are consistent for larger and more recent samples, but smaller samples of rotation periods appear biased relative to vsini studies. We therefore focus on whether the rotation period distributions observed in star forming regions can be evolved into the observed ones in the Pleiades, NGC2516, M34, M35, M37, and M50 with plausible assumptions about star-disk coupling and angular momentum loss from magnetized solar-like winds. Solid body models are consistent with the data for low mass fully convective stars but highly inconsistent for higher mass stars where the surface convection zone can decouple for angular momentum purposes from the radiative interior. The Tayler-Spruit magnetic angular momentum transport mechanism, commonly employed in models of high mass stars, predicts solid-body rotation on extremely short timescales and is therefore unlikely to operate in solar-type pre-MS and MS stars at the predicted rate. Models with core-envelope decoupling can explain the spin down of 1.0 and 0.8 solar mass slow rotators with characteristic coupling timescales of 55+-25 Myr and 175+-25 Myr respectively. The upper envelope of the rotation distribution is more strongly coupled than the lower envelope of the rotation distribution, in accord with theoretical predictions that the angular momentum transport timescale should be shorter for more rapidly rotating stars. Constraints imposed by the solar rotation curve are also discussed (Abridged)Comment: 42 pages, 16 figures, submitted to Ap

An evaluation of some mining related SSSIs within the context of Part IIA Environmental Protection Act

This report describes the results of jointly funded project by the British Geological Survey and English Nature to develop a GIS approach to prioritising mineralogical SSSIs. The object and rationale was to prioritise sites for follow on studies aimed at assessing pollution potential within the context of the Environmental Protection Act, Part IIA. The first part of the report introduces the main elements of the Part IIA legislation of relevance to abandoned mining. A brief account of the forthcoming EU Mine Waste Directive is also presented to set this study within a European context. The second part of the report deals with a description of the main environmental hazards linked to abandoned mining. The report goes on to briefly describe the English metallogenic setting relevant to the SSSIs and the minerals; both ore and gangue, of potential environmental concern are noted. An account of the GIS decision support application is then presented and the development of the scoring scheme based on the concept of ranked pollutant linkages. The final section of the report presents the GIS outputs in ranked tabular form and recommendations are made for prioritising follow up work based on this output. The site prioritisations for each site are presented on the CDs in the Appendix